Campbell Bay, 30 Dec 2020
On the remote Katchal Island the Sri Lankan Tamil Settlers settled there by the Govt. of India in the 1970’s are protesting from the last 43 days. These settlers are demanding their resettlement from Katchal Island which is a tribal reserve area to a non-tribal area.
Apart from protesting the members of the Settler Community of Katchal are also on relay hunger strike since the last 39 days. Recently, these settlers had also organised a rally in Katchal demanding that, if the Administration is finding it difficult to settle them elsewhere in a non-tribal area, their settlement in Katchal should be legalised by de-notifying the area of their settlement from the Tribal Reserve.
Nicobar Times has also received credible inputs from sources that the Sri Lankan Settlers earlier in the month had written a letter to the authorities and informed them that if their resettlement is delayed, they will demarcate the land of the Rubber Plantation (now defunct) and distribute two Hectares each to the 47 original settler families settled in the Island by the Govt. of India. The plan was put on hold after the intervention of the Deputy Commissioner, Nicobar District who had convinced the settlers not to take such a step and had assured to take up all their issues with the higher authorities.
Sources have informed us that the Sri Lankan Settlers of Katchal Island are now planning to implement their earlier decision of occupying the land of the Rubber Plantation and distributing it among themselves, since the Administration has not been able to solve their issue of resettlement even after 43 days of continuous protests.
The Bharatiya Janata Party, State Unit, Andaman and Nicobar Islands had earlier raised the issue of resettlement of these Settlers with various authorities. Shri. Ajoy Bairagi, State President, Bharatiya Janata Party, Andaman and Nicobar Islands had also raised the issue prominently during the recent visit of the Minister of State for Home Affairs, Govt. of India to Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
The Tribal Development Council and the Tribal Council of Katchal Island had also earlier demanded the resettlement of these settlers from Katchal Island to a non-tribal area.
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